Lasting-buttoner.



M. F. BROGAN. LASTING BUTTONER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3. I9l5.

, Patented June 20, 1916.

THE coLumulA PLANDORAPH 00.. WASHINGTON, n. c.

T KENT T T T@.'

MICHAEL F. BROGAN, OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

LASTING-BUTTUNEB.

Application filed July 8, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Mrcn'nur. F. BROGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lawrence, in the county of Essex and State of h lassachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Lasting-Buttoners, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to devices for securing and holding the flaps of button shoes during the process of manufacture of the shoe and particularly during the lasting process, which requires that the upper of the shoe be properly fitted over the last. It has been the practice to close the upper previous to lasting by means of several of the buttons, and when the lasts were drawn, the upper was unbuttoned by a pull on the fly, this operation frequently resulting in pulling buttons from the upper and in breaking or distorting the buttonholes.

The present invention is concerned with the type of buttoner comprising a plurality of spaced and connected fasteners for a plurality of buttons and buttonholes, such as shown in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 967,939, of Aug. 23, 1910 to Krippendorf, and is designed to provide a buttoner of improved construction, which has a wide range of use and is simple in construction and easy of application and removal.

For the purposes of description, the device of this invention is termed in the specification and claims a lasting buttoner,bu't the use of the word lasting is in no sense a limitation as to use and application, for it will be obvious that a buttoner of the character described may be used at other times.

One feature of the invention consists in a buttoner of such structure that it may be readily formed as an integral article from a single piece or length of material, such as wire.

Another feature of the invention consists in yielding connections between the fasteners to permit varying separation.

A further feature consists in a curvilinear arrangement of button and buttonhole grips corresponding substantially with the curvilinear arrangement of the buttons and Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 20, 1916.

Serial No. 38,793.

buttonholes of a shoe upper so that the button and buttonhole flaps will be held by the buttoner in the position they assume when the parts are actually buttoned.

A further feature of improvement resides in a certain novel construction permitting the ready application and removal of the device.

These and other features of improvement will be more'fully apparent from the detailed specification following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and illustrating one type of buttoner embodying the invention.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 illustrates in perspective the application of one form of my invention to the buttons of a shoe upper, the buttonhole flap being unfastened; Fig. 2 shows the buttoner applied to the shoe upper with the shoe positioned for lasting, the lines of lasting pull on the upper being indicated by arrows, Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the upper with the buttoner applied thereto, and Fig. 4 illustrates slightly modified forms of the invention.

In the drawings, 2 designates the button flap and 4 the buttenhole flap of a conventional form of button shoe.

The buttoner embodying the present invention, as illustrated herein, comprises a series of what may be termed fasteners spaced and connected, these fasteners comprising button and buttonhole engaging means which may be termed generically, grips. I. have provided such a structure of a very simple character and of a construction permitting the formation of the entire buttoner from a single length or piece of material, such as a single length of wire. This wire may be bent by a machine or otherwise to provide a series of spaced wire clasps or grips for the buttons with adjacent and integral projecting portions or grips for the buttonholes, each pair of grips or fastener being integrally connected with the adjacent fastener, thiseonnection comprising a length of wire which is fiexi- 8 extend at an angle toward each other and toward the intermediate fastener. The hooked portions'S are intended to overlie the upper adjacent the buttonholes with contact faces 10 adjacent tothe bend of the hooks arranged to engage the edge Ofitlle buttonhole and limit the relative movement betweenthe button andbuttonhole flaps to a position where the buttonholes willbe properly positionedrelative tothe buttons.

.The terminal fasteners are connected to an intermediate fastener or fasteners by bendingthe rear inner ends of.the loops 6 at an angle to form connecting arm 12 which, in-turn, as shown in Fig. 1, are bent outwardly'to form a button clasp or .grip 14, the outer end of the clasp beingclosed bybringingthe opposite sides of'-the.wire

together and projecting the wire upwardly and bendinglth end outwardly, as .at 16, to provide an intermediate buttonhole grip, the wire at:the angle of the bend,-as at .18, engaging the edge of the buttonhole :to limit-the separation of the buttonhole and buttonhole flaps at this point. The connecting arms 12 of the fastener are resilient to permit varying separation ofthe fasteners so as to accommodate them to different. spacings of buttons and buttonholes within a rea-sonablerange. The'wire clasps or grips for the buttons are preferably made sufficiently large 'toinelose loosely the eye of the button and permit accommodation to varied and, when necessary, unequal spacing of the buttons. Itwill be noted-that the inner ends f thewire clasps are bent toward-each other to provide a narrow or restricted opening, through which theeye of the button slides when the clasp -is applied to the button flap. 7 e

To provide for the curvilinear arrangement of the buttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper the contact surfaces 10 and 18 of'the 'buttonhole grips. are relatively off-set to lie in the line of such a curvilinear arrangement. The engaging surface *18 will, therefore, project out beyond-the engaging surfaces 10 of theterminal buttonhole grips,

in a curvedline of buttonholes'which should be engaged by the buttonhole gripswhen relatively to the button flap.

the buttonhole flap is properly positioned V The buttons willengage the upwardly extending-arms of the'buttonhole grips with the buttonhole engaging surfaces ofthe grips positionedsubstantially centrallyabove the buttons. The button eyes will be positioned, therefore, substantially in line with the outer'ends of from Fig. 2.

the buttonholes and the button and buttonhole flaps will be held in the positions they should occupy when the flaps are actually buttoned and the upper held tightly to the last. This cooperation of the buttonhole gfips, button clasps and buttons provides the button clasps with relatively offset button holding positions corresponding with the offset positions of the buttonhole grips.

The illustrative buttoner, shown in Fig. 1, is applied to the shoe by slidmg the inner edge of the buttoner toward a line of buttons onthe button flap, so as to insert the eyes of these buttons through the necks or restricted portions of the clasps (i and l-l to bring them adjacent or againstthe outer ends of the clasps. The lower of the alined buttonhole is then buttoned over the lower hook S of the series of fasteners,-tl1is hook extending transversely of the buttonhole plied, it will be evident that the lasting strain upon the shoe upper-is in a direction transversely of the upper and also longitudinally. The buttonhole engaging surfaces 10 and 18 will serve tolimit the transverse relative movementof the button and buttonhole fiaps caused by the lasting strain and will position the buttonholes in line with the button eyes. The lower hook 8 will prevent the upper from being drawn downwardly and over the upper hook 8 and the intermediate hooked portion 16. The upper hooked portion 8, which extends downwardly is of substantial assistance in facilitating the removal of :the buttoner from the shoe. This removal is accomplished by moving the buttonhole (flap downwardly over theupper hook Sto clear the hook and then by grasping-the'buttoner and moving it transversely of the button flap, and at-the same'timeturning thetwo lower hooked ends 16 and S inwardly, so that the hooks clearztheir buttonholes and the entire buttoner is drawn from beneath thebuttonhole flaps, the'buttons being easily drawn-through the restricted ends of their clasps.

By providing terminal fasteners of the series of fasteners with hooked portionsextending transversely of their buttonholes and toward each other andthe intermediate fastener or fasteners of the series, the buttoner-is madereversible so as to be adapted to-bothright and left shoes. In the form illustratedin Figs. 1to 3, only=three fasteners have been shown, but it will be understood that the specific number shown is not intended as a restriction but merely as an illustration.

While it is preferable to form the terminal buttonhole grips of the series of fasteners with oppositely bent ends to make the buttoner adapted for both right and left shoes, it will be obvious that the buttoners may be made for either right or left shoes and any number of fasteners. In Fig. 4 of the drawings, I have illustrated such an arrangement. The length of wire is bent in the manner heretofore described to form a series of spaced button clasps 20, having at their outer ends a series of buttonhole engaging hooks or grips 22. For right shoes one end hook of the series will be bent to extend transversely of its buttonhole, as at 2-1, Fig. 4:, and for left shoes, the opposite end of the series will be bent in the opposite direction, as at 26. In the form shown in Fig. 4, the buttonhole grips, other than the one terminal grip 24 or 26, extend in the line of their buttonholes similarly to the hooked end 16 of the intermediate fastener of Fig. l of the drawings.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of integrally connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a button engaging wire loop having its end bent to form a hook to engage the buttonhole.

2. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of integral spaced fasteners, each fastener comprising a button engaging wire loop, bent upwardly and toward the edge of the flap to provide a hook for engaging the buttonhole.

3. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of integral spaced fasteners, each fastener comprising a button engaging wire loop having its sides adjacent to one end of the loop disposed in substantial engagement and bent upwardly to form a double hook for engaging the buttonhole.

4. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of spaced fasteners integrally connected and each comprising a button grip and a buttonhole grip, said plurality of fasteners and connections being formed from a single piece of metal.

5. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a single length of wire or the like, bent to form a plurality of spaced integrally connected fasteners, each fastener including a button clasp and an adjacent upwardly projecting portion arranged to extend through a button hole.

6. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a single length of wire or the like, bent to form a plurality of spaced integrally connected fasteners, each fastener including a button grip and a buttonhole grip, the wire connections between adjacent fasteners being yielding to permit varying separation.

7 A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of .button shoes, comprising a plurality of spaced and integrally connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a button grip and an adjacent buttonhole grip, said grips being relatively offset to provide a curvilinear arrangement of button and buttonhole grips corresponding substantially with the curvilinear arrangement of the buttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper.

8. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of spaced and integrally connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a button clasp and an adjacent and upwardly projecting hook arranged to extend through a buttonhole and engage the edge of the upper, said button clasps and the upper engaging portions of the hooks being relatively offset to provide a curvilinear arrangement of button clasps and upper engaging hooks corresponding substantially with the curvilinear arrangement of the buttons and but-tonholes of a shoe upper.

9. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a series of spaced and connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a button grip and a projecting portion arranged to extend through a buttonhole and engage the upper, one terminal projecting portion of the series of fasteners having its end arranged at an angle to extend transversely of and beyond its buttonhole.

10. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a plurality of spaced and connected fasteners, each fastener comprising a button grip and an adjacent projecting hook arranged to extend through the adjacent buttonhole, at least one of the hooks of the plurality of fasteners having its end turned inwardly of the button flap edge and transversely of its buttonhole.

11. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps of button shoes, comprising a series of spaced and integrally connected wire fasteners, each fastener comprising a button clasp and an adjacent integral hook arranged to extend through the adjacent buttonhole and engage the edge of the upper, the terminal button clasps of the series and the upper engaging portions of the terminal hooks of the series being laterally offset relatively to the corresponding parts of the intermediate fasteners or fastener to provide a curvilinear arrangement of button clasps and buttonhole hooks corresponding substantially with the curvilinear arrangement of the-buttons and buttonholes of a shoe upper.

A lastlng @buttoner for vhold ng the flaps of button shoes, comprisinga series of the terminal hooks of: the series of fasteners being turned inwardly otthe button flap edge and-ztoWard the intermediate fastener or fasteners.

13. A lasting buttoner for holding the flaps oii button shoes, comprising a plurality of integrally connected and spaced fasteners,- each fastener comprising a button engaging Wire loop, to inclose loosely a button i eye, said loop having its end bent upwardly -to'forn1 a hook for engaging a buttonhole,

said fasteners having resilient Wire connections permitting varying separatlon.

lnitestnnony whereoi I have signed my name to this specification.

MICHAEL F. BROGAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained torhfive centsreacmgby. addressing the Commissioner of latents, Washington, D. 0. 

